The invention is directed to a method for supporting test routines.
After a new system software or new program modules of a system software such as, for example, in an improved version of a system software, administration and maintenance software or software modules effecting additional performance features has or have been integrated into a communication system, the system software is tested overall on the basis of test routines. A determination is thereby made as to whether all the performance and function features characterizing the communication system continue to be available to a user. The test environment of the communication system is simulated in terms of software in order to assure an optimally great flexibility. In this test environment, simple test routines or time-critical switching procedures are initiated by events, for example triggered by subscriber terminal equipment simulated in terms of software. It is thereby extremely difficult for a developer who monitors the testing procedure, for example, at a video screen, to immediately recognize the status of the respective testing phase due to the complexity of program modules that execute the test procedures. Given unanticipated errors in the system software, the developer has test program aids such as, for example, a debug program module available to him for fault isolation. Program errors can thereby only be localized by repeatedly starting a test procedure and by setting break points. A complicating factor for an error search in the program modules of the system software of the communication system is the fact that a test program must be repeatedly started for localizing critical program locations. For example, a simple call setup between two subscribers connected to the communication system produces a multitude of signaling procedures that are exchanged between a data processor and an input/output processor in a machine-oriented language such as, for example, in ASCII characters. Each signaling procedure between the processors causes a plurality of program steps that, displayed on a video screen or a video screen segment, can be duplicated. An error search on the basis of the debug data takes on an extremely complicated form since only a limited number of lines is available for this at a video screen. In addition to the debug program module, a trace program module can be utilized for the error search, the individual instructions of a test program being successively implemented therein and the user can duplicate these instructions program line by program line. "Paging through" the trace data becomes extremely time-consuming given the complex program relationships.